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Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Remembering Charles E. Till
Charles E. Till
Charles E. Till, an ANS member since 1963 and Fellow since 1987, passed away on March 22 at the age of 89. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Imperial College, University of London. Till initially worked for the Civilian Atomic Power Department of the Canadian General Electric Company, where he was the physicist in charge of the startup of the first prototype CANDU reactor in Canada.
Till joined Argonne National Laboratory in 1963 in the Applied Physics Division, where he worked as an experimentalist in the Fast Critical Experiments program. He then moved to additional positions of increasing responsibility, becoming division director in 1973. Under his leadership, the Applied Physics Division established itself as one of the elite reactor physics organizations in the world. Both the experimental (critical experiments and nuclear data measurements) and nuclear analysis methods work were internationally recognized. Till led Argonne’s participation in the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE), and he was the lead U.S. delegate to INFCE Working Group 5, Fast Breeders.
Taraknath Woddi, Kenneth N. Ricci
Nuclear Technology | Volume 184 | Number 2 | November 2013 | Pages 156-168
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-22
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A parametric study was performed on the thorium-to-233U breeder fuel cycle for pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) similar to the existing CANDU type. The objective was to estimate the sensitivity of the thorium breeder PHWR energy cost to fuel reprocessing costs, reactor capital costs, fuel specific power, fuel-to-moderator ratio, and reactor size and to find optimal parameters to minimize the energy cost for reasonable economic assumptions. A baseline model thorium heavy water breeder reactor (THWBR) was developed from these parameters to show how an existing PHWR would perform economically if fueled only with thorium and the 233U bred and reprocessed from that thorium. This study found that the baseline model THWBR is not cost competitive with the current PHWR fuel cycle using natural uranium but may be significantly closer in cost to the natural uranium fuel cycle than models discussed in previous publications. Because the proposed thorium reactor can, with the assistance of some thorium fuel reprocessing, achieve a higher average fuel burnup than the once-through natural uranium cycle, the waste management costs will be lower while the reprocessing costs will be higher than the natural uranium fuel system. When the strategic and proliferation-resistance values are included, the thorium breeder PHWR may be competitive with natural uranium PHWRs and light water reactors in some markets. The next phase of our study is expected to show how to use novel combinations of unconventional PHWR core geometries to increase the breeding ratio and fuel burnup, decrease the reprocessing requirements, and make a thermal breeder reactor more economical.